On Thursday 11 February, and at 19:05 GMT, we have a new moon in Aquarius, 23 degrees and twenty minutes. It is all happening now, and it might be happening voluntarily, or what seems more likely is that forced change is brewing upon us. But it is only happening because there is an underlying need for it. The moon enters Aquarius and joins the stellium party. The Sun, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, are already there but waiting for the moon to kick off events and seed what the new cycle will manifest later on. Change will be electric, combative and on an industrial scale. It is a dark and seriously heavy new moon. In every facet of life we will experience the stimulating, elemental forces of aggression, competition and confrontation. We are going to find ways to harmonise those forces through love in order to enjoy the fruits of this very future building new moon.

The duality of initiation is embedded in the conception of this new cycle. The feminine with the masculine, day and night, dark and light, positive and negative, permeate the environment like smoke you can feel and touch. Aquarius is very distant and ethereal, but it is looking for practical applicable solutions. Its’ ruler, Saturn, participates in the conception of the new cycle. Saturn is slow and restrictive. He’s associated with taking a hard, lean and focused attitude. In Aquarius he forces us to search for innovative, alternative ways to resolve issues. We have to be authentic and true to ourselves, committed and mature, as well as strong in our individuality, so that we can experience partnerships that transcendent the ordinary.

In the Steampunk Tarot, the Two of Cups is particularly mystical, experimental and at the same time traditional, old style and romantic. Love and a sensual element will overcome resistance and come through the hardness and the pain. Because it is not just Saturn there, but also the two benefics, Venus and Jupiter, who are conjunct in Aquarius during this seeding time are spreading their influence of good fortune and luck. So we can be confident that there is beauty, abundance and love involved too. Darkness and the element of magic will manifest slowly and in flamboyant fashion. Another great player involved, Mercury, who is at the time retrograding and going over the planets in Aquarius, will add restlessness and confusion to disrupt everything before putting it back together. So going over plans and decisions, our way of doing and thinking, could be going back and forth in a rather unsettling way.

In the end of the process everything is going to look very different. In some cases he will be throwing off established formulas and behavioural patterns as he reviews past actions and earlier conclusions. In any case the whole system will be in a state of war and deconstruction. All these planets will be confronted and challenged by a very fixed Mars and an embedded Uranus in Taurus. We would like to move, but we wont be able to without a fight. The Ten of Wands are a grand confrontation that has become a load and a burden to carry. Though here the Ten of Wands is represented by a lovely image that is almost luminous and otherworldly, make no mistake. At the heart of the new moon, we have a compulsion towards freedom, to throw off a weighty burden, and discord that is forcing change through letting go. There will be delays and reversals. Aquarius is determined. And we are going nowhere fast carrying so much stuff on our back. At some point the inevitable will be to shed enough in order to move on. There will be no looking back. The Aquarius season is heavy and wistful. Once we let go and come through, the outcome of our actions in the real world will begin to take form in spring and further cement our experience in the summer.

But we are coming through it. Hopefully for better. There is light at the end of this very hard working, laborious, committal and disciplined time in our lives. Termination of relationships, and other partnerships that will grow and flourish despite the darkness, will all feature strongly. On the one hand we walk through the heavy load transformed and elevated, while on the other through hard work and industrious attitude we will find real freedom and beauty in love.

Indeed, this is a surprising Six of Cups that has come up for us to wrap up the reading. The lone, warrior like, and revolutionary self is at the centre of all events and emotions. But the self is flanked in duality of otherness. There is partnership and a coupling energy. In the background a harsh industrial reality and frantic activity, will not block what is real love, prosperity, art and beauty that will ultimately come forward. We will not know what the exact particulars will be that will come out of this before Leo season later on in the year. That’s when it all will be revealed. Change that is fixed, has a futuring quality and a benefic influence that is a lived reality, will mean no turning back to the ways of the past. Sharing and appreciating the good things of life is what we are looking forward to materialise out of the new moon in Aquarius. Hard work, pain and some anger too is also build in the seeding of the cycle. We are going to like the friendly and relational energy that is part of it, and that will support us to realise a genuine improvement in our experience of being in the world. The fruits will soon show up and the flowers will fully bloom in time. When we reach the Six of Cups we would have created into reality the magic we were dreaming about in the Two of Cups of the dark winter evening.

Flavia